Problem-solving skills of high school chemistry students

What strategies do high school students use when solving chemistry problems? The purpose for conducting this study was to determine the general problem-solving skills that students use in solving problems involving moles, stoichiometry, the gas laws, and molarity. The strategies were examined for success in problem solving for 266 students of varying proportional reasoning ability, using interviews incorporating the think-aloud technique. Data were coded using a scheme based on Polya's heuristics. Results indicated that successful students and those with high proportional reasoning ability tended to use algorithmic reasoning strategies more frequently than nonsuccessful and low proportional reasoning students. However, the majority of all students solved the chemistry problems using only algorithmic methods, and did not understand the chemical concepts on which the problems were based.     

An essay on the implications of university expansion in Kenya

Although Kenya may be the most extreme example, expansion of university education is widespread throughout Eastern and Southern Africa. This article examines the irresistible rising tide of populism as it reaches the ivory tower in Kenya. Economic, political, and equity arguments supporting and opposing expansion are outlined. The conclusions, although directed at Kenya, are broadly applicable to those African nations embarking upon a program of tertiary-level growth.     

Commentary on student interviews

Student interviews provide valuable input into peer evaluation of teaching. Both the University of Georgia and Stanford University have explored ways of using student interviews to tap into student perspectives. The approaches taken by the two schools are compared in this paper. Similarities and differences are identified and discussed. In addition, the aspects of teaching that are best reflected upon by peers versus students are enumerated.Sheri D. Sheppard, an associate professor, has been at Stanford University in the Design Division of Mechanical Engineering since 1986. In addition to teaching both undergraduate and graduate design classes, she does experimental and analytical research on weld fatigue and impact failures, fracture mechanics, and applied finite element analysis. She is also a co-principal investigator with Professor Larry Leifer on a multi-university NSF funded project to critically review undergraduate engineering curricula. Before coming to Stanford, Dr. Sheppard completed her graduate studies at the University of Michigan and held several research and consultancy positions in the automotive industry. Larry Leifer received his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering, his M.S. in Product Design and his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University. He studied human information processing and biomedical engineering in laboratories in the U.S. and Europe before joining Stanford's mechanical engineering department faculty in 1976. Currently he is a professor in the design division where he teaches courses in engineering design based on industry-funded projects and distributed design teams. He studies and promotes this pedagogy through leadership in an NSF funded coalition of engineering schools which are revising undergraduate engineering curricula. Relatedly, he has developed the Smart Product Design laboratory and taught its curriculum for 10 years. As founding director of the Stanford Center for Design Research, he does design theoretic studies and objective evaluation of structured design methodology. Seeking to disseminate assistive devices for physically limited individuals, he co-founded the Tolfa Corporation (1989) and Independence Works, Inc. (1992), a product development enterprise that uses the Internet World Wide Web to bridge the technology transfer gap between research laboratories and disabled consumer markets. J. Edward Carryer is an Acting Assistant Professor in the Design Division of Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University. In addition to teaching both undergraduate and graduate courses in mechatronics, he is active in the organization of workshops on Mechatronics Education and the development of both graduate and undergraduate Mechatronics curricula. Before coming to Stanford in 1992, Dr. Carryer held positions in the automotive industry and as a consultant on mechatronic systems, including Chief Engineer at Creative Applications Engineering Inc. There his work involved projects on medical instruments, electronic engine controls and human environmental control systems. Dr. Carryer's graduate work was done at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and Stanford University.     

Using Computer Assisted Instruction to Compare the Inventive Model and the Radical Constructivist Approach to Teaching Physics

This paper introduces a new way of evaluating instructional strategies by using computers. Two basic theories, instructivism and constructivism, are discussed and critically evaluated in terms of their effectiveness in conceptual learning. Despite the current popularity of constructivism, the radical form of it is criticized in this paper. The advantages and limitations of these two approaches, especially the radical forms of constructivism, are outlined. After borrowing some ideas from other effective conceptual change models, an integrative model for conceptual learning (the Inventive Model) is introduced. Two versions of multimedia physics software are developed by the authors. The first version is based on the Inventive Model and the second version based on a radical constructivist model. The effectiveness of the Inventive Model was compared with the radical constructivist approach and conventional science instruction. Students' log files were analyzed to investigate the nature and the processes of the conceptual change. A conceptual test and a knowledge test were used to compare the groups. The quantitative results showed the superiority of the Inventive Model over the other models in conceptual learning and the superiority of conventional instruction in learning the basic knowledge. The qualitative analysis showed that only the Inventive Model lead to coherent conceptual learning. It was concluded that the process of conceptual change is gradual and continuous. Analysis of students' log files revealed no moments of dramatic change in students' conceptions.     

Formative Automated Computer Testing (FACT)

This study describes the context for the development of a tool to formatively assess information technology skills of students. The tool provides a reliable and valid assessment of word processing competency, utilizing automation to apply the test instrument via the Microsoft Office package. Tests can be designed directly by tutors, and delivered via a network. Evaluation of the tests suggests that immediate automated testing is preferred by students compared to a traditional written test. There is evidence that the tool improves the IT skills of its users, whereas a traditional written test has no such beneficial effect.     

The effects of cognitive development and age on elementary students' science achievement for structured inductive and semi-deductive inquiry strategies

This study explored Morine and Morine's (Discovery: A challenge to teachers. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1973) assumptions regarding age and cognitive development of learners successfully utilizing two types of inquiry, specifically structured inductive and semi-deductive. Two groups of elementary school students from grades one, three and five were individually assessed on six conservation tasks and a multiplicative classification task. The two groups were instructed on two different science topics utilizing different inquiry strategies. Achievement data from topic specific tests were analyzed by an ANOVA technique. The results indicated that age made a significant difference on achievement for both inquiry strategies. The significant contributions were due to the differences between grade one and grades three and five. The differences between grade three and grade five were not significant. The effect of cognitive development was more noticeable in the less structured semi-deductive strategy in which four conservation tasks and the multiplicative classification tasks were significant.     

God's Word, Religious Rules, and Their Relation to Christian and Jewish Children's Concepts of Morality

2 studies were conducted of children's concepts of moral and nonmoral religious rules. In Study 1, 64 Amish-Mennonite children (ages 10, 12, 14, 16) were asked to evaluate 4 moral and 7 nonmoral religious rules as to rule alterability, generalizability, and whether the status of the acts was contingent on the word of God. As a second aspect of Study 1, 64 Dutch Reform Calvinist children were asked to determine whether God's commands could make a harmful act morally right. Study 2 replicated the basic design of Study 1 with 64 Conservative and 32 Orthodox Jewish children. Findings were that subjects differentiated between moral and nonmoral religious issues. Moral rules and some nonmoral rules were seen as nonalterable by religious authorities. The status of moral (but not nonmoral) acts was generalized to members outside the religion and was not viewed as contingent on the existence of statements from God. Judgments regarding moral issues were justified in terms of justice and human welfare considerations; nonmoral issues were evaluated in terms of their normative status. Some denominational and age effects were found. Findings supported the proposition that social knowledge is constructed within conceptual systems that represent fundamental categories of social experience.     

AMERICAN UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES IN THE COMPUTER AGE

The author has presented a rapid overview of the uses of the new information technologies in various aspects of library management and utilization in the United States of America. As early as the 1950's, as concerned librarians had come to realise that manual methods would no longer suffice to cope with the demands being made on libraries, they turned increasingly to automation. Libraries were innovators with regard to the development of large databases and the users of innovations with regard to the development of communications technologies. The latter, the new information and communications technologies (NICT's), are playing increasingly important roles with regard to the operation of libraries in the areas of acquisitions, cataloguing, circulation, reference, administration, inter‐library links including shared cataloguing, resource sharing, and inter‐library loan (now thought of as document delivery). The introduction of these same technologies has required that changes be made in the way librarians are trained, that older practising librarians have their training upgraded, and that library clients be trained in techniques of computer use and information retrieval. For the future, the uses made of the NICT's are bound to expand, leading to increased electronic publishing and distribution and to greater integration of indexes and catalogues. University libraries will increasingly become parts of campus‐wide communications and information networks.